But the city council insisted the findings were caused by a quirk of the city's boundaries.

A spokesman said: "There are undoubtedly many low-income households in the city, but these statistics don't reflect local people's actual experience.

"That's because our city boundaries are smaller than most and the proportion of students, with very low incomes, is higher than most."

He added that including surrounding districts, where more than half of those who work in Nottingham live, gives a higher figure of £16,000 per person.

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Nottingham has a high proportion of students with very low incomes, the council said

Nigel Adams, director of Hope Nottingham, which runs food banks and community projects, said: "Nottingham has this particular issue with the boundaries, where many of the wealthy areas are outside its limits.

"This means it tops these statistical reports, like the one in 2013, but these never tell the whole story.

"The big changes we have seen are greater extremes of wealth and poverty, more homeless, more women and families homeless.

"What Nottingham can do is make funding less about particular ethnic or age groups, more about communities."